Did you know that September 16 was National Tattoo Story Day?

So it’s no officially sanctioned federal holiday (yet), but the impromptu celebration did offer a spot-on tie-in to NBC’s marketing campaign for its new drama Blindspot, debuting Monday at 10:00pm. Given the show’s premise of an amnesiac whose elaborate body ink presents the path to her identity, NBC seized on the opportunity, pushing out the hashtag #TattooStories across its social platforms, encouraging fans to share the tales behind their own tattoos.

“Using [National Tattoo Story Day] as a hook to get people into Blindspot – it’s so organic to the story engine of the show,” said Sharon Allen, SVP of marketing strategy at NBC Entertainment. “To bring that to life and have it resonate with so many people who have tattoos is such a personal connection.”

Innovation in television marketing is more important than ever before, which is an unoriginal yet oddly intimidating way of saying that it’s becoming increasingly important to connect with viewers in increasingly more meaningful ways. Viewers don’t just want to watch TV, they want to be involved with it, and the leveraging of Blindspot’s tattoo fixation was one of a number of ways in which NBC is facilitating that kind of relationship as its fall season shifts into high gear.

One surefire way of doing that is simply via the programming itself, by putting up shows that demand appointment viewing by their own nature, and won’t settle for much else. To that end, NBC has a robust slate of live entertainments populating the airwaves this fall – from live-recorded episodes of Undateable’s third season to Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris, which premiered on September 15 to respectable ratings. The latter’s most powerful marketing tool is perhaps its host’s own far-reaching social presence. With nearly 19 million followers on Twitter alone, Harris can stir up conversation and tune-in with a click of the Tweet button. And NBC can leverage that ability in fun and surprising ways this fall, including plans for a “sign my tweet” promotion that will find the star printing out tweets from fans, signing them and then mailing them out to the lucky recipients. “It’s an interesting mash of new technology with social media, with straightforward traditional autographs,” said Allen, “and a great way to get a national conversation going.”

Meanwhile, marketing Undateable’s live-ness is wrapped up with its positioning – with NBC’s lone new comedy this season, Truth Be Told – leading into the weekends. “It’s a great way to kick off your Friday night if you have plans,” Allen said, “watch Undateable, watch Truth Be Told and head out. It’s like a happy hour.” As the Undateable season progresses she continued, ample opportunities will be available to viewers to chime in during the live telecasts and not only converse around the show, but contribute to it, with responses to certain social media prompts actually finding their way on-air. “Because of the nature of the cast and them being stand-up comedians and comfortable with improv, we’re able to do that,” Allen said.

Including fans at deeper levels extends into the real world as well, including a takeover of Times Square extending throughout September. The month’s activations at the famous intersection have included broadcasting a taping of The Tonight Show on a football field-sized digital billboard that towers over the famous intersection, as well as a 4D Heroes: Reborn experience down below, at which fans could have their pictures taken with a ball of animated fire in their hands then see it projected on the massive screen above them. Next weekend (Sept. 19-20), NBC will bring an on-site (temporary) tattoo bar to Times Square to promote Blindspot, as well as the chance for fans to project photos with their heads placed on the body of tattooed heroine Jane Doe. “Every year we have to challenge ourselves and try to do something that’s going to create impact and be different and stand out from a more and more cluttered environment,” Allen said.

One thing that is definitely not cluttering up the coming fall is the status of NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which will definitely once again be one of the year’s most-watched sports shows. “We want to take advantage of that audience and use it introduce our shows,” said Allen, which equates to fun integrations like a spot (viewable at the top of this post) that connects the ordinary people with extraordinary abilities who populate professional football to the ordinary people with similarly extraordinary abilities on Heroes: Reborn, which premieres September 24. “One thing we’re doing for fall is really utilizing the entire NBCU and Comcast portfolio to get the word out with creative integrations and tie-ins,” Allen said. “We’re also doing some fun integrations with USA and E! and Bravo and Oxygen – really trying to capitalize on all of the assets of the company.”

Tags:


  Save as PDF